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Archive for the ‘culture’


Metal, water, whatever 78

Posted on May 12, 2014 by

For your licence fee today:

The talk of the town 294

Posted on May 05, 2014 by

Readers will know that as a rule we don’t just pinch bits of other peoples’ work wholesale, but in this particular case, given that the entire UK media’s been going on about it misleadingly for a solid week and still shows no sign of stopping, it seemed only fair that everyone should be up to speed on the source.

gqsalmond1

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Something to believe in 177

Posted on May 05, 2014 by

It’s a Bank Holiday and frankly there’s absolutely bugger-all of any interest in the news today, so I hope you’ll forgive me a personal indulgence, readers. I’ve only used the personal pronoun for a couple of Wings articles out of over 2,300 in the site’s two and a half years of existence, because the independence debate isn’t about me. But a curious piece in today’s Herald by David Torrance merits such a response.

If you don’t see what it’s got to do with that video*, bear with me.

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Why don’t you go back to Islamia? 253

Posted on May 03, 2014 by

We’ve quite frequently highlighted the ugly, irresponsible tone of the No campaign’s – and especially Labour’s – comments about “foreigners” in the independence debate. And the reason we do is because that sort of language feeds attitudes like these.

joanhenry1

There is, sadly, more where that came from.

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The belly of the beast 164

Posted on April 29, 2014 by

I had no idea what to expect from the UKIP public meeting in Bath tonight. The city is genteel, wealthy and has been solidly Lib Dem for over 20 years. While there are of course some sketchier areas and it hasn’t been immune to the UK’s recent economic troubles, generally speaking it has little to complain about.

So when UKIP booked the 730 downstairs capacity of the Forum (a rather beautiful old Art Deco former cinema from the 1930s) for a public meeting, I hung onto the hope that there was at least a reasonable chance it’d be half-empty.

ukipf1

No luck there, then.

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No That’s What I Call Music 56

Posted on April 13, 2014 by

We’re off to watch the Scottish Cup semi-final now, so to keep you all entertained for the next couple of hours here’s a little something we put together at the request of columnist and broadcaster Lesley Riddoch, and for anyone who was listening to Radio Scotland’s “Headlines” this morning.

Hopefully we won’t need it ourselves by 3.30pm. #COYR

Anything you can do 102

Posted on April 09, 2014 by

If it’s Wednesday, Labour must have changed their position on their future-devolution proposals again. Following our latest highlighting of the glaring contradictions in the shambolic “Devo Nano” plans, responses have started arriving to your letters.

oscillate

If you’ve been listening closely, you’ll have heard that the position on whether the Scottish Parliament would be able to reduce taxes below the UK level has see-sawed from “No you can’t” (Johann Lamont MSP, 18 March) to “Yes you can” (Richard Baker MSP, 28 March) and back to “No you can’t” again (Tom Clarke MP, 4 April).

Well, guess what?

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Playing with fire 178

Posted on April 07, 2014 by

Earlier today we highlighted two pieces of disgraceful, mendacious smearing by The Scotsman, in conjunction with an “anonymous” Labour MP. The articles coincided with a wider campaign of demonisation across most of the Scottish and UK media against supporters of independence, backed up by elected Labour representatives on social media in what might easily be seen as a co-ordinated attack.

docherty

The tweets above are from the account of semi-literate Labour councillor for East Kilbride, James Docherty. They follow a week in which the Edinburgh South MP Ian Murray described the placing of one or more small “Yes 2014” stickers on his constituency office windows as an “out of control” escalation of intimidation and Alistair Darling accused some people objecting to a businessman sending a document full of scaremongering lies to 500 employees of his company as “shaming Scotland”.

These hysterical smears would be laughable were it not for the consequences they may yet bring about. We highlight some of those consequences below.

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From Bath To Scotland 64

Posted on April 06, 2014 by

Just for a change, a wee bit of culture for a Sunday evening.

clinker

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A passing query 278

Posted on April 04, 2014 by

As far as we’re aware, “the largest arts festival in Europe” (indeed, the largest arts festival anywhere in the world) is the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

100mph

Does anyone remember Ian Murray MP being in charge of it?

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Art imitates life 98

Posted on April 01, 2014 by

This is the Guardian’s elaborate, deliberately-absurd April Fool story:

guardianfool

Ha ha! Good one!

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A short satire on triangulation 105

Posted on March 21, 2014 by

The last 40 years of UK politics accurately summarised in 30 seconds.

(From episode 3 of Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle, still on iPlayer at time of writing.)

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    • Hatey McHateface on The Nobodies: “This is Scotland, sam. Why should we believe you know what a woman is?Jul 29, 18:39
    • Hatey McHateface on The Nobodies: “We have serious claims from Professor Baird that I’m a racist and a fascist. We have serious claims from Professor…Jul 29, 18:37
    • Captain Caveman on The Nobodies: ““My point wasn’t about the emotional harm of mockery… it was about its structural uselessness.” Well I daresay, Northy, if…Jul 29, 18:22
    • Alf Baird on The Nobodies: ““It sounds good but it’s not right.” Spot on, James. The statement (“Scotland did fine as a colony from 1750…Jul 29, 16:03
    • Confused on The Nobodies: “Burnham’s been in the job 5 seconds and what has he been doing : – FUCK OFF SCOTLAND was near…Jul 29, 15:39
    • Northcode on The Nobodies: “You’re raising points about government size and historical interpretation, but none of them actually engage the argument you’re responding to.…Jul 29, 15:31
    • Northcode on The Nobodies: ““Mockery and insults are different.” Your distinction makes sense at the level of tone, but my point was about their…Jul 29, 14:53
    • Ross on The Nobodies: “BTW, There’s an easy fix for the ITV screen capture problem – in the browser settings, do a search for…Jul 29, 14:09
    • James on The Nobodies: ““Scotland did fine as a colony from 1750 to 1900, not asset stripped. It was only when big government arrived…Jul 29, 13:50
    • Ian Smith on The Nobodies: “The colonialism is not a serious claim, it is presenting obscure academic opinions as fact. While there are none so…Jul 29, 13:01
    • Ian Smith on The Nobodies: “Assuming no mainstream political party is going to radically improve anything for the country, there is still a good case…Jul 29, 12:55
    • diabloandco on The Nobodies: “If any silly sod replies to derogatory comment at 12.10 then hell mend ye! On a completely off topic subject…Jul 29, 12:45
    • sam on The Nobodies: “Mockery and insults are different. Alf usually gets insults and mockery. Insults are unnecessary.The intention is to hurt someone who…Jul 29, 12:10
    • Chas on The Nobodies: “Does that mean you are leaving ‘Wings’ for good? I hope so.Jul 29, 12:10
    • Northcode on The Nobodies: “I was in the mood for a spot of speech writing the other day, and I’m in the same mood…Jul 29, 11:43
    • Jamie on The Nobodies: “More pictures of Monica Bellucci are welcome.Jul 29, 11:11
    • Captain Caveman on The Nobodies: “Sometimes mockery is richly deserved and entirely apt. Besides, sticks and stones eh? Maybe people need to have thicker skins…Jul 29, 10:54
    • Xaracen on The Nobodies: “It had to be said, Northy, and you said it well.Jul 29, 10:37
    • Northcode on The Nobodies: ““Democratic institutions inside a colonial framework cannot produce constitutional change”: Is a premise put forward by Alf Baird as part…Jul 29, 10:24
    • sam on The Nobodies: “The i paper ‘Burnham bounce’ puts Labour ahead in poll, but can it last? 18:44 Mon, 27 Jul Yahoo News…Jul 29, 09:58
    • Alf Baird on The Nobodies: “Hatey, you are on the wrong side of history and morality in your admiration for the mafia and its backers…Jul 29, 09:19
    • Captain Caveman on The Nobodies: ““Racist yesterday, Alf, and now fascist today.” Is he really expressing such sentiments and views? If so, that’s a disgrace…Jul 29, 08:53
    • Hatey McHateface on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “On the subject of shite, Dan, it’s interesting that you have nothing to say to a poster who not only…Jul 29, 08:13
    • Hatey McHateface on The Nobodies: “Racist yesterday, Alf, and now fascist today. You academics don’t half like to throw the big, complicated words around. How…Jul 28, 19:54
    • Andy Wiltshire on The Nobodies: “Apropos of nothing, Rev, what ever happened about Lynsay Watson? Was any kind of justice ever served?Jul 28, 18:26
    • Alf Baird on The Nobodies: “Indeed, “another lesson learned” is that fascist colonialism always has the ultimate method in its toolbox, if assimilation disna wirk,…Jul 28, 16:06
    • Dan on Ain’t it funny how things change?: “I had also wondered what Monsier Pantalon in Scottish thought about the GSA situation. Robin ain’t happy. http://robinmcalpine.org/an-elegy-for-scotlands-dark-age/ Was thinking…Jul 28, 15:52
    • Chas on The Nobodies: “It appears Labour are shite. The SNP are useless. Lib Dems are nonentities. Tories are well Tories. Reform are the…Jul 28, 14:09
    • Hatey McHateface on The Nobodies: “No connection between colonialism and democracy, Alf? Doesn’t postcolonial theory also have something to say about the dead ends the…Jul 28, 13:54
    • Captain Caveman on The Nobodies: ““Labour: 22% (+1)” “Up 6 points in about 2 months and it is not a bounce.” “Since 14th May 2026…Jul 28, 13:21
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